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David Christensen of Evergreen and Clear Creek County will become the newest member of the board of the Evergreen Fire Protection District in May.

A former volunteer firefighter for 11 years, Christensen, 61, will take the seat that became available when George Goldbach decided not to run for re-election.

Since there were only three candidates in the running, the district legally canceled the regular May 4 election and named as elected the three candidates who submitted self-nomination forms: incumbents Jeff DeDisse and Charles Simons, and Christensen.

The primary election in August will be conducted exclusively through mail-in ballots in Jefferson County. The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously at a public hearing Feb. 23 in favor of the measure.

The vast majority of public comment taken between Jan. 29 and Feb. 12 supported the use of mail-in ballots, the county stated, and 94 percent of votes in the 2008 primary election were cast through the mail in Jeffco.

It was business as usual at Conifer schools the morning of Feb. 24, a day after a gunman shot two students at Deer Creek Middle School in South Jefferson County.

Officials at West Jefferson Elementary, Elk Creek Elementary and Conifer High schools did not do anything specific to draw students’ attention to the shootings, but the incident was a grim reminder that teachers, staff and students must be mindful of safety.

Using humor, theatrics and great music, members of the troupe Inside the Orchestra taught King-Murphy Elementary School students about how orchestra music is not so different from the music they usually hear.

“Orchestra music has the same intensity and energy as hip-hop and rap,” conductor Tom Jensen told the school-wide assembly Feb. 26. Some parts of the music are rough and some are smooth, some are quiet and some are loud, some are happy and some are sad.

Neighborhood groups said they felt better about the park district’s upcoming community needs survey after hearing the board’s response to their concerns at a park district board meeting Feb. 23.

After the Feb. 9 joint meeting with the Center for the Arts board, some neighbors were worried the parks board had already decided to go forward with the arts/community center, without regard for the results of the future community survey.

George Goldbach has decided not to run for another term as a member of the board of directors of the Evergreen Fire Protection District.

Goldbach was first elected to the board in Nov. 13 in the recall election as a replacement for former board president Phil Shanley. He ran uncontested in a polling-place election May 6, 2008, and was re-elected.

Two candidates for Senate District 16, which includes Evergreen and Clear Creek County, faced off at a candidates’ night Feb. 25 at a Hiwan Country Club event sponsored by the Mountain Republican Women’s Club.

Despite the icy roads and snow, about 75 people turned out to hear the two candidates, Tim Leonard of Evergreen and Mark Hurlbert of Breckenridge, work their way through about a dozen questions solicited from attendees.

Metal detectors are not the way to improve school safety — the answer is old-fashioned supervision, awareness and common-sense procedures like keeping unexpected visitors out of the building, said Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services of Cleveland.

Contacted Feb. 24, it was too early for Trump to have all the facts about the Deer Creek Middle School shootings, but he had some suggestions on what parents and school administrators can do to make schools safer.